Tolling existing interstates would put businesses at a competitive disadvantage by forcing them to increase wages to attract and retain a workforce, Rex Davis, president of Melvin L. Davis Oil said during a recent interview.

Speaking with WWBT NBC 12 about the Obama Administration’s proposal to expand tolling to existing interstates as a means of increasing infrastructure revenues, Davis said, “You almost feel like you’re a target of some sort.”

“If we don’t pay that person more to come and work with us, that has to bear the burden of the toll, then that person may work an extra half an hour to an hour a day just to make enough money to pay the toll and come back and forth to work,” Davis said.

Davis is also on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI), of which NATSO is a founding member.

ATFI thinks that tolling existing interstate lanes, which drivers already pay for through the motor fuels tax, is the worst possible option for paying for roads.

The Obama Administration earlier this year proposed GROW America 2.0, a $478 billion proposal that would fund transportation projects over the next six years. The measure contains several proposals opposed by highway users and the businesses that cater to them, including easing the restrictions to toll existing interstates.

The current extension to existing highway law is set to expire May 31.

Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman

Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman develops and executes communications strategies to advance NATSO’s public relations and advocacy goals. Tiffany also develops and oversees partnerships related to the NATSO Foundation’s public outreach initiatives. Tiffany lives in the D.C. metro area with her husband and their two sons.More